[115] Virg. naturally substitutes the ship-race for Homer's chariot-race, which Aeneas' wandering heroes could not well have conducted: he has kept his eye however on the incidents of the Homeric contest. Wagn. thinks ‘pares’ must refer to swiftness, not to size, supposing the Chimaera to be larger than the rest, being a trireme, while the others are assumed to have been biremes. In v. 153 however the weight of Cloanthus' vessel is said to be the reason why he did not get ahead of Gyas, so that the two ships probably did not differ much in size. It seems more likely that in the following description Virg. as usual has studied variety, calling the Pristis swift and the Scylla sea-coloured without meaning that the others were not swift, or implying any thing about their colour, and thus that in dwelling on the size of the Chimaera he has no intention of disparaging that of the rest. ‘Gravibus remis’ of course does not mark out the ships as adapted for swift sailing, but leads us to think of the difficulty of the feat, while indicating their actual character.
[116] ‘Pristim’ Rom., fragm. Vat., ‘Pristin’ Med. Virg. seems generally to prefer the Latin to the Greek termination. For the word see on 3. 427. The ships doubtless derived their names from the ‘insignia’ on their prows. Comp. the description of Aulestes' Triton 10. 209 foll.
[117] ‘Soon to be founder of an Italian house.’ The connecting of Roman families with Trojan heroes is not a fancy of Virg.'s, but dates from an earlier period. Varro wrote a book ‘de familiis Troianis.’ Virg. may or may not have derived Mnestheus from μεμνῆσθαι, Memmius from ‘meminisse:’ but he evidently follows the analogy of those words in his etymology, as μεμνῆσθαι became ‘meminisse,’ so Mnestheus became ‘Memmius.’ It is disputed whether ‘Memmi’ is nom. pl. or gen. sing., but perhaps the latter is the simpler, as Wagn. remarks, comp. v. 123. ‘Mnestheus,’ 4. 288.
[118]
Wagn. thinks ‘ingentem’ refers
to bulk generally, ‘ingenti mole’ to height;
but Gossrau's view seems more natural:
“duplicato adjectivo magnitudo navis extollitur,”
like Homer's μέγας μεγαλωστί.
It is singular that Gyas is not mentioned
as the founder of any house, as it appears
from Serv. that the Geganii, a great Alban
family, afterwards a patrician house at
Rome (Livy 1. 30), regarded him as their
progenitor. It is supposed however that
they may have died out before Virg.'s
time, as they are not mentioned in the
later history of the republic. At any rate
Virg. indemnifies Gyas by dwelling at
much greater length on the points of his
ship. ‘Gyas’ 1. 222. It occurs again Ov.
F. 6. 639, of a house built by Vedius Pollio
and left to Augustus, who pulled it down.
The lines are worth quoting:—
“Disce tamen, veniens aetas, ubi Livia
nunc est
Porticus, inmensae tecta fuisse domus.
Urbis opus domus una fuit, spatiumque
tenebat
Quo brevius muris oppida multa tenent.
”
[119] Urbis opus is a singular expression for “urbis instar.” Stat. Theb. 6. 86 imitates it, calling a funeral pile “montis opus,” if the reading is certain, and again Silv. 2. 2. 31, “Inde per obliquas erepit porticus arces, Urbis opus,” which however the commentators explain “opus urbe dignum.” Gossrau comp. Cic. Verr. 5. 34, “Quae (navis) si in praedonum pugna versaretur, urbis instar habere inter illos piraticos myoparones videretur.” Cerda comp. 8. 691, of the battle of Actium, “pelago credas innare revolsas Cycladas, aut montis concurrere montibus altos,” where however see note. ‘Versus’ of a tier of oars, Livy 23. 30. Virg. has been guilty of an anachronism, as triremes were not invented till the historic period (Thuc. 1. 13), about B.C. 700, at the same time that he must have failed to impress a notion of vastness upon his readers, who had known ships of ten tiers at the battle of Actium, and had heard of others of sixteen, thirty, and even forty. See Dict. A. ‘Ships.’
[120] ‘Terno ordine’ for “tribus ordinibus.” ‘Consurgunt,’ the tiers rising one above another, though not perpendicularly. Ribbeck brackets ‘terno—remi’ as tautologous, as if Virg. never said the same thing in two different forms.
[121] Sergestus 1. 510. ‘Tenet nomen,’ derives the name it still bears. Comp. 6. 235., 7. 412.
[122] Magna, rather than ‘magno’ (which is however the reading of a few copies, supported by Nonius), agreeing with ‘navi’ understood. Forb. cites “Praeneste sub ipsa” (urbe) 8. 561, “Eunuchus bis die acta est” (fabula), Suet. Tib. 2. ‘Cloanthus’ 1. 222.
[123] Scylla's dogs are spoken of as ‘caerulei’ 3. 432 (note), and the ‘insigne’ of Scylla would doubtless be painted of this colour, if not the whole vessel. Sen. Ep. 76 alludes to the custom of painting ships, “Navis bona dicitur, non quae pretiosis coloribus picta est . . . sed stabilis et firma.”
[124-158] ‘Aeneas sets up a goal on a rock, round which they are to turn. They range themselves in order and prepare to start. The signal is given: they are off: the scene is more exciting than a chariotrace: the spectators are all enthusiasm. Gyas takes the lead, then Cloanthus, lastly Mnestheus and Sergestus, nearly abreast.’
